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The Reams Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

The Reams Foundation Inc

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$2.0M
Granted FY2025still arriving
20
Grants FY2025still arriving
9
States reached
$460k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$3.5MPublic Benefit$2.5MCommunity Improvement$2.5MCivil Rights$1.4MSocial Science$1.0MCrime & Legal$960kScience & Tech$260kPublic Safety & Disaster$241kOther$0
02FY2025 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k3 grants · $11k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $50k
  • $50k–250k13 grants · $1.1M
  • $250k+2 grants · $920k
$60,000
Median grant
9
States reached
$38M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Ed Choice$460,000
Stand Together Chamber of Commerce Inc$460,000
Institute for Justice$130,000
Foundation for Economic Education$120,000
State Policy Network$100,000
Libertas Network$100,000
Mackinac Center for Public Policy$100,000
Goldwater Institute$100,000
Fund for American Studies$70,000
Certell Inc$60,000
Atlas Network$60,000
Leadership Institute$60,000
Reason$50,000
Students for Liberty$50,000
CATO Institute$50,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 51% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 10%Mackinac Center for Public Policy: $140k → 9%Libertas Network: $100k → 8%Foundation for Economic Education: $120k → 13%Stand Together Chamber of Commerce Inc: $460k → 7%Mackinac Center for Public Policy: $120k → 9%Libertas Network: $100k → 8%Foundation for Economic Education: $120k → 13%Stand Together Chamber of Commerce Inc: $400k → 7%Mackinac Center for Public Policy: $120k → 9%Foundation for Economic Education: $120k → 13%Stand Together Chamber of Commerce Inc: $400k → 7%Mackinac Center for Public Policy: $110k → 9%Foundation for Economic Education: $100k → 13%Stand Together Chamber of Commerce Inc: $350k → 7%Mackinac Center for Public Policy: $100k → 9%Foundation for Economic Education: $100k → 13%Stand Together Chamber of Commerce Inc: $270k → 7%Mackinac Center for Public Policy: $100k → 9%Foundation for Economic Education: $100k → 13%Ed Choice: $565k → 16%Stand Together Chamber of Commerce Inc: $250k → 7%Mackinac Center for Public Policy: $100k → 9%Foundation for Economic Education: $100k → 13%Ed Choice: $460k → 16%Stand Together Chamber of Commerce Inc: $250k → 7%Mackinac Center for Public Policy: $100k → 9%Foundation for Economic Education: $90k → 13%Ed Choice: $350k → 16%Mackinac Center for Public Policy: $100k → 9%Ed Choice: $315k → 16%Ed Choice: $280k → 16%Ed Choice: $210k → 16%Goldwater Institute: $110k → 11%Ed Choice: $200k → 16%Goldwater Institute: $100k → 11%Ed Choice: $200k → 16%Goldwater Institute: $100k → 11%State Policy Network: $100k → 7%State Policy Network: $100k → 7%State Policy Network: $100k → 7%Institute for Justice: $130k → 7%Institute for Justice: $130k → 7%Institute for Justice: $110k → 7%Institute for Justice: $100k → 7%Institute for Justice: $100k → 7%Institute for Justice: $100k → 7%Institute for Justice: $100k → 7%Institute for Justice: $100k → 7%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
MI
IN
PA
CT
CA
UT
MO
VA
AZ
TN
SC
DC
GA
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$13M · 27 repeat orgs$136k to everyone else

27 repeat relationships: 18 still active in FY2025, 9 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

27
20

Total granted

$13M
$136k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+63%
+116%

Still filing today

85%
40%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Public BenefitEducationCivil RightsHealthSocial ScienceRecreation & SportsOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • EI
    EdChoice Inc
    9× · 2017–2025 · $2.8M · revenue +43%
  • ST
    STAND TOGETHER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE INC
    8× · 2018–2025 · $2.5M · revenue +240%
  • MC
    MACKINAC CENTER
    9× · 2017–2025 · $990k · revenue +64%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2017 · $40k
  • BO
    Bill of Rights Institutegraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $20k · revenue +233%
  • TF
    Think Freely Media
    one grant, 2017 · $20k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

The american enterprise institute is a community of scholars and supporters committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening free enterprise. aei pursues these ideals through independent thinking and the…

Social Science
2
Open Markets Institute

The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.

Education
3
Frontiers of Freedom Institute

To educate the public on constitutional issues and public policy matters. We are dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, peace through strength, limited government, free enterprise, and the values embodied in the Declaration of…

Public Benefit
4
Foreign Policy Research Institute

The foreign policy research institute (frpi) is dedicated to producing the highest quality scholarship and nonpartisan policy analysis focused on crucial foreign policy and national security challenges facing the united states. we educate…

International
5
Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Inc

The manhattan institute is a community of scholars, journalists, activists, and civic leaders dedicated to advancing opportunity, individual liberty, and the rule of law in america and its great cities.

Public Benefit
6
Competitive Enterprise Institute

Competitive enterprise institute (cei) is a non-profit public policy organization dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government. we believe that consumers are best helped not by government regulation but by being…

—
7
R Street Institute

The r street institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public-policy research organization ("think tank"). our mission is to engage in policy research and outreach to promote free markets and limited, effective government. (continued on…

Education
8
The International Institute for Strategic Studies - Us

To provide accurate, objective information and analysis on international strategic issues for legislators, diplomats, foreign affairs analysts, international business leaders, economists, the military, defense commentators, journalists,…

International
9
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
10
The Lexington Institute

The institute supports and provides research regarding issues of public policy having effects on the rights, freedom, security, and quality of life of american citizens.

Education
11
International Republican Institute

Iri advances freedom and democracy worldwide by developing political parties, civic institutions, open elections, democratic governance and the rule of law.

Education
12
Liberty Justice Center

To advance economic and social liberties and a free enterprise society through strategic litigation, training, communication, activism and research. in addition, the center will train law students, lawyers and policy activists in the…

Crime & Legal
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Stand Together Chamber of Commerce Inc; the most unlike its peers is Family Paws Rescue. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

36 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 36 of the 51 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
15
Early backer (in before they grew)
35/36
Grantees still filing
30/36
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

STAND TOGETHER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE INC: $2,460,000 · OtherSTAND TOGETHER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE…Reason: $450,000 · OtherReasonAtlas Network: $260,000 · OtherAtlas NetworkFIRE: $240,000 · OtherFIRETHE FUND FOR AMERICAN STUDIES: $190,000 · Other+27 more: $354,100 · Other+27 moreEdChoice Inc: $2,826,000 · EducationEdChoice Inc+4 more: $168,500 · Education+4 moreMACKINAC CENTER: $990,000 · Public BenefitMACKINAC CENTERBARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: $730,000 · Public BenefitBARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUT…CATO INSTITUTE: $400,000 · Public BenefitCATO INSTITUTELibertas Network: $360,000 · Public BenefitLibertas NetworkLeadership Institute: $250,000 · Public BenefitLeadership Institute+2 more: $51,000 · Public BenefitINSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE: $960,000 · Civil RightsINSTITUTE FOR JUS…STATE POLICY NETWORK: $670,000 · Civil RightsSTATE POLICY NETW…Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty: $390,000 · Civil RightsActon Institute f…Foundation for Economic Education Inc: $910,000 · Social ScienceMercatus Center Inc: $90,000 · Social ScienceCERTELL INC: $250,000 · InternationalAMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY: $90,000 · Community Improvement
Other$3,954,100Education$2,994,500Public Benefit$2,781,000Civil Rights$2,020,000Social Science$1,000,000International$250,000Community Improvement$90,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetEdChoice Inc: $2,826,000 over 9y, 4.0% of budgetSTAND TOGETHER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE INC: $2,460,000 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetMACKINAC CENTER: $990,000 over 9y, 1.4% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE: $960,000 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetFoundation for Economic Education Inc: $910,000 over 9y, 2.0% of budgetBARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: $730,000 over 9y, 1.3% of budgetSTATE POLICY NETWORK: $670,000 over 9y, 0.5% of budgetCATO INSTITUTE: $400,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetActon Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty: $390,000 over 9y, 0.5% of budgetLibertas Network: $360,000 over 6y, 0.7% of budgetCERTELL INC: $250,000 over 5y, 2.6% of budgetLeadership Institute: $250,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetTHE FUND FOR AMERICAN STUDIES: $190,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetMercatus Center Inc: $90,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetAMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY: $90,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetInstitute for Humane Studies: $80,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetSTUDENTS FOR LIBERTY INC: $70,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetHILLSDALE COLLEGE: $65,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE: $50,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetHEALTHY LIFESTARS: $34,000 over 9y, 1.8% of budgetVerdeCares Inc: $32,500 over 4y, 4.7% of budgetCOLLEGE OF CHARLESTON FOUNDATION: $31,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ALLEGAN COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $28,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetBill of Rights Institute: $20,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetGOLF FORE AFRICA INC: $15,100 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetHERITAGE FUND - THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetFAMILY PAWS RESCUE: $12,500 over 4y, 14% of budgetMICHIGAN MARITIME MUSEUM INC: $10,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetReigning Grace Ranch: $7,500 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetALPHA OMICRON PI FOUNDATION: $7,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetAlmost Home: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetDRAWING CHILDREN INTO READING: $2,500 over 2y, 3.9% of budgetCharleston Moves: $2,500 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetBartholomew County Humane Society Inc: $2,500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetSJOGREN'S FOUNDATION INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOAST GUARD FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds EdChoice Inc ↗
  • Who funds STAND TOGETHER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE INC ↗
  • Who funds MACKINAC CENTER ↗
  • Who funds INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE ↗
  • Who funds Foundation for Economic Education Inc ↗
  • Who funds BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH ↗
  • Who funds STATE POLICY NETWORK ↗
  • Who funds CATO INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty ↗
  • Who funds Libertas Network ↗
  • Who funds CERTELL INC ↗
  • Who funds Leadership Institute ↗
  • Who funds THE FUND FOR AMERICAN STUDIES ↗
  • Who funds Mercatus Center Inc ↗
  • Who funds AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY ↗
  • Who funds Institute for Humane Studies ↗
  • Who funds STUDENTS FOR LIBERTY INC ↗
  • Who funds HILLSDALE COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds HEALTHY LIFESTARS ↗
  • Who funds VerdeCares Inc ↗
  • Who funds COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE ALLEGAN COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Bill of Rights Institute ↗
  • Who funds GOLF FORE AFRICA INC ↗
  • Who funds HERITAGE FUND - THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY INC ↗
  • Who funds FAMILY PAWS RESCUE ↗
  • Who funds MICHIGAN MARITIME MUSEUM INC ↗
  • Who funds Reigning Grace Ranch ↗
  • Who funds ALPHA OMICRON PI FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Almost Home ↗
  • Who funds DRAWING CHILDREN INTO READING ↗

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Donors Trust IncThe Armstrong Foundat…Atlas Economic Resear…Baird Foundation IncAmerican Endowment Fo…Morgan Stanley Global…National Philanthropi…Vanguard Charitable E…Natl Christian Charit…The Pfizer Foundation…Renaissance Charitabl…The Bank of America C…
Donors Trust IncVA14.9× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Donors Trust Inc · The Armstrong Foundation · Atlas Economic Research Foundation · Baird Foundation Inc · American Endowment Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · Renaissance Charitable Foundation Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Reams Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Reams Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 51 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Reams’ filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home